Vonceil Sittig: Serving God as a church hostess

Published 12:02 pm Saturday, August 6, 2022

Vonceil Sittig uses her talents — some might call it using her giftings from God — to minister at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles. No, she’s not the pastor or the worship leader. Sittig is church hostess in charge of weddings, showers, food services, furnishings, decorating and events. (There’s a good chance that if Sittig would have been one of the disciples traveling with Jesus, the crowd following him would not have gone three days without eating and she’d have packed plenty of loaves and fish for the journey.)

“Twenty-seven years ago, I was actually asked to come to work for Ralph Brown, Minister of Education, as his secretary,” Sittig said. “I had absolutely no secretarial courses in high school or college,” she said. “Instead of typing, I took home economics.”

But Brown was desperate. He promised Sittig he would not ask her to type too much. She promised to help out, but only until he could find the right person for the job. After he found the right person, Sittig was able to find the right place for her skill set.

“I feel honored to be able to use my gifts in service to the Lord, to our members and to our guests, to show them the love and consideration that God shows us,” she said.

In addition to the Sunday morning Bible study at 9:30 a.m. and three Sunday service venues to choose from at 10:45 a.m., including a Spanish service in the chapel, Trinity Baptist Church has plenty of midweek activities geared to meet the needs of every age group, children, students, young adults, women, men and senior adults.

“We have a lot of things that go on here regularly,” she said. “During the school year, families who want to come to Wednesday night activities can come early, 4:50 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. and enjoy a meal. We know how hard it can be to find time to prepare a meal and sit down as a family any day of the week. It’s just one of the ways we serve.”

Sittig serves box lunches and dinners for small meetings to massive meetings.

“For years, we hosted the Martin Luther King breakfast, and we would serve over 1,000 people,” she said. Now we’re gearing up for a revival beginning Sunday, August 28 and going through Wednesday, Aug. 31.”

Special speaker Jay Lowder, founder of Harvest Ministries and Dr. Leo Day, Executive Pastor of Worship at Thomasville Road Baptist Church. Children will enjoy their own revival fun competing against others while learning Biblical principles.”

During the revival, Trinity will host dinner for members and members’ guests. Tickets will be purchased for members’ guests. The menu includes favorites such as steak and fried fish.

“We’ll start serving at 5 p.m., prior to worship,” Sittig said.

She couldn’t name just one popular Trinity meal, but she did say that everyone seems to love her twice-baked potatoes, gumbo and old-timey chocolate yummy layer dessert.

“I put a little twist on it,” she said.

She learned to cook at home under the tutelage of a grandmother and great aunt who were all “good southern cooks.”

“I still make some of the things they made back in the day,” she said. “On the first day of the month, we have our Joy luncheon for our senior adult members and their guests.  One of the throwbacks I do often is the pear salad and congealed salads. It’s nostalgic, and they love that.”